Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1887-02-26
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Professor Herzen has recently shown,
from vivisectional experiments, the init
mate relation between cold and touch
and that an injury TO the corte1 Of the
brain that destroys the sense Of touch Il
any region will usually also abolish cor
~rcspondingly the sense Of cold.
Eugsns Tyler, OF Adairviile, KY. isa
wonderful young man, whose body seens
charged with electricity. lie comes Of a
good family, is we'll ell lcated. and IS va
r%iously described as being a spiritual me-
dunn, . living walking battery, q light
nlng generator, and as having Ere enough
in him TO run q locomotive.
Professor Thurston says when a drop
OF oil is placed upon the surface OF water
it first rapidly spreads in all directions,
forming a film Of exceeding tenuity, AID
affecting the waves as if a sheet or car-
pet of thin, flexible. elastic AMI VET te-
n~acious substance, Ike rubber, had been
spread over the waves.
It is claimed that the increaee n tho
number Of person. us ng glasses is fully
thirty-three and a third per cent, over
! previous periods. This is set down IS
partly due to the practice people have Of
buying glasses Of unskillcd persons and
patty TO notions Of economy ia buying
cheap glasses. The number Of opticians
has, O. course, correspondingly increased.
The Aedical R-crd reports that Pro-
fessor Windle concludes from his re-
searches that mans original dentitlon in
Guided six ~incisors in either jaw; that
two from each jaw have gradually dis
appeared; that this loss is due to the IN
traction Of the anterior part OF tue pal
ate that this process Of contraction will
probably 90 on and result IN the Joss of
two further inc;sors, AID that the ~conical
shape OF many of the supernumerary
teeth indicates a rcversion TO the print
tive type Of tooth.
The measuring CT the candle-power OF
a light is accomplished by comparing
the shadow cast by Z rod IN the light Of
astandard candle with the shadow cast
by the light to be tested. BY moving
the latter toward or away from the rod q
point will be reached at which the
shadow cast by both lights will be Of the
same intensity. The intensity OF the two
lights is directly proportional to the
square Of their distance from the sh&d-
ows, j. e suppose the light to be tested
is three times the distanle Of the candle,
its Illuminating power is nine times as
great.
\ German professor spent twenty
ycars in studying the habits and chaTac-
t~eri,tics Of a certain snail, and learned
this interesting fact respecting il. on
the Pacific coast Of America, where il is
found in great abundance, i is prcyed
upon by q cerssin fish which abound, in
tha popjEo CONAN on 1il IN c7non
ing from its formidable crcmv it las
been provided with an cyo on the bank
Of it's head. The same snail is found On
the Atlantic coast, exactly like its far
western brother in every particular cx-
cept that it has no posterior eye. And
the reason for this is that there Is 10 cor
responding fish to prey upon it in the
Atlantic Ocean.
At o recent meeting Of the Pins cloEi-
cal Society Of Berlin it was stated that
when the bee has filed the cell either
with pure honey or q mixture Of pollen
dough and hoaey, and has completed the
lid, Il drop of fOrmic acid obtained from
the poison bag connected til tie sting
is added to the honey by pey:oIatiGg ;he
lid with the sting. Numerous exrrri-
ments show that this foTmlc acid pres
serves honey and every other solution
from fermentation. II this b. we'll GO
tablished, it vii! STOW that tie s.ingand
the poison apparatus Of the bee has a
further purpose than that Of p defensive
or offensive weapon. Another interest.
ing fact suggests itself in connection
with this. 80 far rs is known most OIL
tile insects that have singing apparatu'
similar to that Of the bee are collector.
and storers Of honey.